Four children who survived a plane crash were found alive after wandering for forty days in the Colombian Amazon jungle. To tweet the photos of the discovery were the armed forces engaged together with the indigenous scouts in the search. And the news was confirmed by the president, Gustavo Petro, who spoke of "joy for the whole country" and by the Minister of Defense, Ivan Velasquez, who called it "a miracle".
The children, Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 13, Soleiny Jacobombaire Mucutuy, 9, Tien Ranoque Mucutuy, 4, and newborn Cristin Ranoque Mucutuy were transported aboard a Blackhawk helicopter to the nearest San Jose Guaviare unified command post for medical assessments before moving to the capital, Bogota.
In the photos, the small, indigenous people of the Huitoto community, appear rather thin, and President Petro has made it known that their health conditions are "debilitated". The children were stranded in the jungle on May Day, surviving a plane crash that claimed the lives of their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia, and two other adults: pilot Hernando Murcia Morales and indigenous Yarupari leader Herman Mendoza Hernandez.
The aircraft was found on May 16, in a wooded area of the municipality of Solano, in the department of Caquetà, in the south of the country. The three adults who died in the crash were found on the spot, but no trace of the children. The discovery of fruit remains with traces of bites had ignited the hope of finding them alive, triggering a massive search operation led by the military, with over a hundred special forces troops and about seventy indigenous explorers, who scoured the area relentlessly. On May 18, a first news of the discovery was given, then denied by President Petro himself. But new traces of the children's passage over the weeks encouraged the search, so much so that more than 100 survival kits containing water and food were also launched to help the four children in their survival efforts.